A Woman's Duty
by Stargazer Nataku
Summary: A woman of Gondor waits for word from the Pelennor Fields...


Author's note: First fic I've written in awhile. Its not the best as its late and I'm tired, but it had its purpose of breaking my writer's block at least temporarily. Hopefully I'll be back to writing more soon, now that I've graduated from college and don't have homework to worry about. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. R&R if you have time please!

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**_A Woman's Duty_**

**_By_**

**_Stargazer Nataku_**

Darkness hung heavily over the great city of Minas Tirith despite the fact that midday had barely passed. The sun did not appear in the dark sky, and day became as night, fitting, perhaps, if one simply looked down from the high walls onto the Pelennor below. The field was covered with the remnants of war, bodies of men and orcs, horses and mûmakil, shattered shields and broken spears, fallen from hands that would never again hold a weapon. The colors and the stench seemed to cover all the land; blood red and black drenching all who moved across the plain, trying to clean up the aftermath of battle.

Aerin of Lossarnach did not have time to look from the high walls down to the fields below, and even if she had she knew what she would see. It was practically the same sight that greeted her as she toiled in the Houses of Healing, save all the bodies were those of men, and the blood flowed only red. She did not wish to think about the carnage below when she had so much that was ever present in her daily experience.

Sighing, she drew a bucket of water from the well, setting it on the stone side and wiping a few stray black hairs from her cheeks. Weariness gripped her with an iron hand, her back throbbed with the exertion and every step and movement reminded her that she had scarcely slept in three days. Worry and work had kept her far too preoccupied to allow easy rest; when she was not focused on the wounded men, her mind wandered to her young son, taken with the rest of the women and children to safety, and her husband Haldar, who had fought. Two days since the battle, and she had heard no word of him, had no assurances that he was alive. It was an misery nearly as sharp as the pain of watching her patients die before her, or groan in agony as injuries were mended, sometimes to no avail.

Her hand tightened on the handle of the bucket, and she turned to go back to the Houses. The bucket was heavy in her hands, but she ignored the weight, focusing instead on the task at hand. It would do no good to think of how tired she was, or wonder how Haldar was faring. She would sleep when there was time, and she had already done everything she could to find news of her husband, There was nothing to be done except continue to work.

Entering the houses, she poured the water into a kettle, then put it over the fire to heat. Staring into the flames, she waited calmly for several minutes before taking a towel and removing the kettle from the flames and pouring the water back into the bucket. Choosing another pair of towels and a bristled brush, she went into one of the rooms where they had worked on patients and lowered herself slowly and painfully to the floor. Once she was on her knees, she poured some of the hot water over the bloodstains that were staining the floor and set herself to scrubbing.

It was an easy task, requiring no thought, and Aerin found her mind wandering again. So much had changed, there was so much to think of, happenings that were great and important, and yet Aerin had thoughts only for the simple things. Sitting in front of the fire with Haldar, watching him play with their son in front of the fire after the evening meal, the soft touch of his hands whispering across her body as his gentle voice told her how much he loved her…

She began to scrub more vehemently, blinking away the tears that suddenly threatened to fall, chiding herself for worrying about something that was out of her hands. If he were gone, she would not be the only woman mourning in Gondor! In the last days alone, Aerin had seen over a hundred men succumb to wounds despite the best efforts of the healers. There would be no one in the city who would not lose someone they loved. What protection did Haldar have? He was no different than the others. A nameless face tossed about with all the rest on the sea of fate, without knowledge of how long the ship would remain afloat before sinking into the abyss.

Aerin blinked away more tears. He _was_ different than the rest, however. He was _her_ husband, the man that woke her with a gentle kiss and soft words of love in the morning. The man who left notes and sketches for her to find, hidden secretively about the house, whenever he had to go away so that every once and awhile she would have a reminder of him, no matter how long he had been gone. The man with whom she had borne a child, a boy who so like his father with his grey eyes and smiling little mouth…He had a name, and a past, and a future…a future that was hers.

The first tear tracked its way down her face as she paused in her work, her hands gripping the scrub brush so tightly that her knuckles were white. Despair washed over her in waves, accentuated by the sight of her lack of sleep and the sights and memories of the days previous. Another tear followed, then another, and she let the brush go, bringing her hands to her face as she knelt on the floor and wept out her inner agony.

A hand on her shoulder startled her from her weeping, and her head snapped around to face whoever it was had intruded upon her solitude. "Ioreth…" she said, quickly wiping the tears away that were streaking down her face, "What is it?"

"I have news, child," the older woman said. "Of Haldar."

Aerin froze, her face going white, and she got to her feet, standing before Ioreth with fear plainly written on her face. Her trembling hands reached out to grasp Ioreth's wrists. "Tell me," she whispered, her voice faint and scarcely audible.

"He was wounded," Ioreth said gently, and Aerin felt the world dropping away from her as her fears were realized. "In the shoulder. His arm is paralyzed," she said, "But he lives and barring major disaster, he will remain so."

"He will live?" Aerin asked, wanting to be sure she had understood what Ioreth was saying.

"Aye, child, he will live."

The tears began to fall again, and her grip on Ioreth's arms never loosened, though now the tears were of joy and the grip reassurance. She did not think she would ever again see anything more beautiful than Ioreth's face at that moment. "Thank you," she said, sobbing in relief.

"You're welcome," the woman said kindly, though sadly. "I just wish I could give such good news to all of Gondor's women."

Aerin felt a rush of guilt at her own joy. "So many will get bad news instead of good," she said softly, her undeniable joy mingling suddenly with overwhelming sorrow. "I am so sorry for them."

"Don't you feel bad because you're happy," Ioreth told her suddenly, her voice firm. "With just a slight shift in fate, it would be you with the bad news and another with the good. We all must take what has been given us, and do the best we can. Today, you have joyous news. Later, it may not be so. Do not deny your happiness while you can have it."

Aerin smiled, wiping her face. "I cannot deny it," she told Ioreth. "Thank you," she said, her voice filled with tears and gratitude. "Thank you so much."

"I am glad to have eased your mind," Ioreth said, "Now, I must get back to the men, so that I may soothe other womens' troubled minds."

Aerin nodded. "We all must do what we can," she said. "Eru help us avoid any more death."

Ioreth nodded her agreement and disappeared into the patient rooms.

Aerin picked up the brush and began to scrub again, face tearstained but resolute, the weariness pushed aside for a little while. The work was easier now, her body more willing, now that the weight was lifted from her heart.

Haldar was alive. Just knowing that, for the moment, was enough. He had come through the maelstrom of evil and death, not unscathed, but alive. Against all odds, he lived.

It was enough.


End file.
